Punjab's Khadi and Village Industries Board becomes focal point of war of attrition

Punjab's Khadi and Village Industries Board becomes focal point of war of attrition

Punjab's Khadi and Village Industries Board has become the focal point of a war of attrition between Chief Minister Darbara Singh and the dissidents within his party.

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Gobind Thukral

July 19, 2013

ISSUE DATE: July 31, 1983

UPDATED: June 13, 2014 12:23 IST

Punjab's Khadi and Village Industries Board has become the focal point of a war of attrition between Chief Minister Darbara Singh and the dissidents within his party.

Established to help the state's languishing artisans, the board has instead, over the years, seen lakhs of rupees find their way into the hands of politicians as its newly-appointed Chairman Gurdev Singh Bakshiwala found. However, what really got things moving at the Government's end was the discovery that many of the beneficiaries were dissident members of the ruling Congress(I).

The clean-up operation began last year when Bakshiwala stumbled upon the fact that many Congress(I) members had taken huge loans for non-existent industries. He served notices on defaulters and forwarded cases to revenue collectors for the recovery of about Rs 3 crore as land revenue - only to discover that these were politicians with considerable clout.

A plea to the chief minister to "rejuvenate the pauperised board" met with little response until dissident activity threatened Darbara Singh's seat of power, and the board scandal proved to be a good stick to beat them with.

Bakshiwala: Major problems

Powerful Defaulters: Bakshiwala's efforts unearthed some interesting facts: among the beneficiaries of the loans are prominent dissident Congress(I) members Amarjit Kaur, a Rajya Sabha member from Punjab, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, minister of state for Housing and Tourism, and former minister Pandit Mohan Lal, currently treasurer of the party's state unit. Also involved are several lower-level politicians and their minions.

According to Bakshiwala, Amarjit Kaur set up the Sugar Bushgram Udyog Samiti at Ahmednagar in Sangrur district in 1978. She and her relatives owe the board Rs 8.43 lakh, the first instalment for which was due in March 1980 - not a paisa has been returned, says the board chairman.

The loan, which was given at an interest of 4 per cent, has been misused, he says, and there is no trace of the khandsari unit that was to have been put up with the money. "The unit has not even applied for a power connection for the past five years. We are seeking full recovery," says an irate Bakshiwala. Kaur's only reaction has been an indifferent one. "How come the Government has now woken up?" she asks.

Bhattal's is the proverbial case of charity beginning at home. She was member-secretary of the board when her husband, along with his relatives, set up the Chhangaliwala Gram Udyog Samiti at Lehragaga in Sangrur district, and received a loan to set up a brick kiln, which the board now says, "never came into existence". The amount, taken in March 1973, now totals Rs 2.19 lakh of which only Rs 22,000 has been returned.

But the most interesting case is probably that of Pandit Mohan Lal, now a source of strong support to the beleaguered chief minister. While he was chairman of the board, Lal formed a trust called Khadi Sewa Samiti in Jullundur, to which he advanced a staggering Rs 55 lakh for the development of khadi and village industries.

With the good relations between Lal and the then chief minister Giani Zail Singh being obvious, no questions were asked about the loan. Nimble-footed Lal is said to have performed many strategically-timed floor-crossings to remain on the right side of the rulers, ostensibly to check recovery of the loan which was due in 1978-79 - he joined the Janata Party in 1977, returning to the Congress(I) after Mrs Gandhi's victory. Questioned about the loan, he takes the stand that since the money was given to the trust, it is for the trust to return it - he, however, continues to be its chairman.

Exploited: Other defaulters who have been identified by Bakshiwala include relatives of Bhattal, former chief minister and Akali stalwart Parkash Singh Badal. Development Minister Santokh Singh Randhawa, Education Minister Harcharan Singh Ajnawala and several others.

The board served 1,400 notices in April, but recoveries have been very few and isolated. In some cases. alleges the chairman, the files have vanished without a trace. '"Surely," he quips. "there is a mix-up of board officials and beneficiaries."

Bakshiwala's findings indicate the extent to which the board has been exploited to siphon off funds to the wrong people: of the 21,000 loans, only a fraction have reached those they were meant for: carpenters, weavers, cobblers and blacksmiths, who have been diligently paying back the loans.

Over 50 per cent of the total amount has been misused. Says Bakshiwala: "There is open looting. Take any samiti having links with politicians, and you discover a defaulter. They have not been legally dealt with so far."

Defaulting politicians, however, claim innocence and allege that the "chief minister is exploiting these innocent deals to save his gaddi." Both the dissidents and Darbara Singh have gone to the prime minister for her intercession in the matter.

Says Singh: "The files tell their own tale. Let them reply to the notices. Why are they scared of the law?" Meanwhile, the issue awaits a final decision from the prime minister's house.

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